Printing-telegraph instrument



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

J. H. ROGERS.- PRINTING TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT.

No. 524,118. Patented Aug. 7,1894.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

' J. H.'ROGERS. PRINTING TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT.

, No. 524,118. Patented Aug. 7, 1894,

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS, OF BLADENSBURG, MARYLAND.

(PRINTING-TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT. I

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 524,118, dated August'7, 1894. r

' Application filed December 12,1893. Serial No. 4.93.462. on) model.)

To aZ Z whom it-may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES HARRIS ROGERS,

of Bladensburg, Prince Georges county, in.

the State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Printing Instruments or Apparatus for Telegraphic Uses, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention has principally to do with the mechanism for receiving andreproducing a message sent over a telegraphic line.

Y The ob ect 18 to reproduce the message in lines which extend one belowand parallel with the other across the sheet of paper on which theprinting is done, just as in ordinary written or typewritten pages, ascontra distinguished from a long fillet or tape on which the reproducedcharacters follow one another in a single line. I employ for thispurposea paper carriage which has a move ment very much like that of the papercarriage of an ordinary typewriter, and like the latter is provided withan intermittent feed for' advancing the paper a distance equal to thatbetween one line and the next in the intervals between the printing ofsuccessive lines-all of the movements of the carriage belng automaticand controlled through the agency of suitable mechanism and electricalconnections, from'the transmitting end of the line. The movement of thecarriage which takes place while a line is being printed is occasionedby a motor with which the carriage is engaged through the intermediaryof a clutch, which for this purpose is controlled by an electro-magnetincluded in a local circuit (which Iterm the clutch circuit) closedthrough the agency of a polar relay, one of the windings of which isincluded in the printing circuit of the receiver. The opposite windingof the polar relay is included in a second circuit (which I term thereturn circuit) upon the closing of which the armature of the polarrelay is actuated to break theoccasioned by the carriage which at thecompletion of its advance movement momentarily .cuit. levers, operatedby electro-magnets included closes the normally open contacts in saidcir- The printing is effected by printing in the printing circuit, andcontrolled intheir operation by the transmitter in the manner indicatedin my Letters Patent No. 420,358 of January 28, 1890. The motors whichdrive the receiverand transmitter respectively, can be synchronized intheir movements in any suitable known way, as for example by thesynchronizing method set forth in my Letters Patent No. 358,753 of March1, 1887.

The message to be transmitted is upon a fillet or ribbon previouslyperforated with the combinations of perforations requisite to actuatethe proper printing levers of the receiver. Inasmuch as the receivingcarriage has a to and fro movement, and after every advance for thelength of a line, must. move back to its original position, no printingcan be done during this return movement, although the transmittingribbon still keeps in movement. I therefore so form the preparedtransmitting ribbon, that between the characters of one line and thoseof the next there shall be left. a space sufficient to'permit thecarriage, after one line is completed, to return to its originalposition in readiness to commence the following line by the time thetransmitting ribbon has been fed along far enough tobring theperforations of that line under the transmitting styluses or brushes.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willnow proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same isor may be carried into effect by reference to the accompanying-drawings,in which- I Figure 1 is a plan view of the receiver with a diagrammaticrepresentation of the circuit connections of the system in which it. isused. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the reciprocatory paper carriage online 22, Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a like section on line 8-3, Fig. 1,lof thefeed mechanism for turning the paper roll of the carriage. Fig. 4 is anenlarged view of a portion of the prepared transmitting ribbon orfillet. I

A is the base of the instrument. In it are mounted vibratory printinglevers B, having upon their converging endsthe characters to tro-magnetG, which influences the armature of its printing lever. This arrangementis similar to that described in my Letters Patent No. 420,358, and istypical of any suitable printing mechanism to be used in connection wlthimprovements about to be described. The printing carriage, consists of arectangular frame D hinged by its rod D in bearings .D in which it canboth rock up and down (for the purpose of lifting or lowering thecarriage) and slide lengthwise (for the purpose of causing the carriageto travel along over the point where the printing levers act on thepaper carried by the carriage). The carriage at its front or oppositeedge rests by its front rod D on a roller D mounted on a suitablebracketor stand secured to the base.

The carriage is advanced in the direction required for printing a lineby a clutch consisting in this instance of ahalf nut E hinged to vibrateupon, the rod D as an axis toward and awayfrom an endless screw or wormF, mounted in suitable end bearings on the base A, and driven fromasuitable motor. When the nut is forced down into engagement with theworm the carriage will advance in the direction of the arrows-in Fig. 1.The return movement of the carriage (which takes place when the nut islifted from engagement with the worm). is effected by means of a springrecoil mechanism similar to that used in the ordinary Remingtontypewriter for advancing the carriage. As this is a well known mechanismI have not deemed it necessary to representit in the drawings.

The nut E is controlled by an electro-magnet E, of which the stem of thenut forms the core, and the screw F the armature-the magnet beingmounted on and moving with the hinged stem. Consequently when the magnetis energized the part E will be drawn toward and caused to engage thescrew F.

The magnet E moves with the carriage, and as a convenient way ofmaintaining its connectionwith its energizing circuit (hereinbeforecalled the clutch circuit) during this movement, I provide it with twocontact strips e e, which rest upon and contact with the stationaryconducting rods f f insulated from each other and included in theenergizing circuit of the magnet. These contact strips are springs aswell, and serve, when the magnet is inert to throw up the core nut E outof engagement with thescrew F.

In the carriage frame is mounted the r0- tatable paper roll G. The sheetof paper to be printed passes under this roll, and over the front andrear rods D D On one end of the roll is fixed a ratchet-wheel g, engagedbya feed-pawl g hinged to the vibratory feed lever g pivoted in thecarriage, as shown in Fig. 3, and provided with a free end whichoverhangs and is adapted to be acted on by the stationary incline 9(Figs. 1 and 3) to cause a partial rotation of the paper roll G duringthe return movement of the carriage.

In this way during the intervals when the carat the receiving end.standing however of the invention a brief deriage is moving back to getin position for printing a new line, the paper roll is moved to causethe paper to feed a distance equal to that which should separateadjoining lines of printing.

The clutch magnet E through the rodsff' and strips 0 e is included inthe clutch circuit a which is completed through the tongue and frontstop a of the polar relay H. This relay has two windings one included inthe printing circuit 1) (through the agency of which the tongue of therelay is moved in a direction to closethe clutch circuit) and the otherincluded in a local circuit 0 (hereinbefore termed the return circuit)through the agency of which the tongue of the polar relay is moved in adirection to break the clutch circuit at a. The return circuit includesnormally open contacts 0, c -c being a spring contact which is struck bythe carriage at or near the com letion of its advance movement and isthere y caused to contact with c with the result of closing the returncircuit 0, thus moving the tongue of the polar relay in a direction tobreak the clutch circuit-the result being that the nut E risesout ofengagement with the worm, and the carriage, beingreleased, is causedbyits spring recoil mechanism to automatically return to its originalposition. The printing circuit 1) is closed through a contact b. whichis the front stop of the neutral magnet I. The, back stop 19 of the saidmagnet is a contact in a circuit d which includes the primary of theinduction coil J through whose secondary is produced the spark by whichvisual synchronism is effected in accordance with the method describedin my Letters Patent No. 358,753, of March 1, 1887. This it will beunderstood is merely typical of any known synchronizing method andmechanism by which the m'ovements of transmitter and receiver can bebrought into accord.

This completes a description of the circuits To a completeunderscription of the transmitting instrumentalities and circuits isessential.

The neutral magnet I is in the line circuit which passes from thetransmitter to the magnet I at the receiving station and thence toground. The line circuit at the transmitting end leads from the trailerJ of the sunflower or segment wheel K, the segments of this wheel beingelectrically connected each to itsown brush L-these brushes beingarranged over and so as to contact with the feed wheel M between whichand the brushes is interposed the perforated transmitting fi ll'et or420,358, and contains nothing new with the exception of the transmittingribbon or fillet N, which in the special form in which it is prepared--having reference more particularly to the space interval 2 between theend mofone line and thebeginning yet the next I believe to be new withme. It is through the space intervalzthat the transmitting ribbon Ntravels, while the 'reciprocatory carriage at the receiving end isreturning to its two parts at ninsulatedfrom each other. Part of thebrushes, say those connected to segments 1. 3.5, are in contact with onepart n of the wheel, and the other, say those connected to segments 2, 4(and also to the startingsegment 6) contact with the other part n;

grouped with the latter is the brush 7 which" makes contact with thesegment wheel once in each revolution irrespective of the transmittingribbon and is intended to control the means by which the visualsynchronizing spark is produced. The line battery is a split batterya's'shown; and one pole of it is con nected to the part 11 of the feedwheel, while its opposite pole is connected to the other part n. Theobject of this arrangement is to provide for the clearing of the line byinsuring a suificient frequency of impulses thereoverof oppositepolarity during the transmission of the message. There are seven activesegmentson the transmitting sunflowerwheel, and one idle segment. Of theseven active segments, 1 to 5 inclusive are for the five printingmagnets at the receiving end, 6 is what I have called the startingsegment, and 7 is the synchronizing segment. Segment 6 is connected to abrush 6, which is in a position where it will always meet a perforationy (Fig. 4) in the transmitting fillet placed just in advance of thebeginning y of a line, with the object of causing the paper carriage ofthe receiver to be fairly clutched to the endless feed screw, before thecharacter perforations meet their brushes, thus insuring that thecarriage shall start by the time the first character has been printed.This is eifected by setting the starting segment and brush as well asthe perforation y in the position indicated. As soon as the brush 6meets the feed wheel through the perforation y',an imits co-operatingtrailer, similarand corresponding to the transmitting segment wheel K. Ihave however shownbut one of the re-v ceiving segments connected up to aprinting magnet-this being to avoid obscuring the parts by delineatingcircuit connections which will at once suggest themselves to anycompetent operator. I

In the printing circuit b, is a switch b which is not closed until thereceiver is in synchronisin with the transmitter. When synchronism isreached, the switch is closed and the local circuits atthe receiving endand the instrumentalities thereby controlled are then brought into play.

In the operation of the machine, when the transmitting fillethas-reached the end a: of a line, the paper carriage of the receiverwill have completed its advance movement, and

ribbon is a blank so far as transmitting per-- forations are concerned,and consequently the closing of the contactsc, 0 will complete the localreturn circuit 0, with the effect of energizing the polar relay H in asense to cause the clutch circuit to be broken at a. The clutch magnetthus becomes de-energized, the clutch nut E consequently is thrown bythe spring strips e e, up out of engagement with the screw, and thecarriage is at once returned toits starting point.

It will of course be understood that between the printing levers and thepaper, there is to be interposed an inked ribbon or the like, such asemployed in manually operated typewriters now in use.

Having described my invention and the best way now known to me ofcarrying the same into effect, I desire to be understood that I donotrestrict myself to the mechanical details hereinbefore described inillustration of the invention. These can be widely variedwithout-departure from the principle of my invention. But

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, IS"? 1. Thecombination with a printing mechan: ism of a reciprocatory papercarriage, a motor trolled clutch for connecting the carriage to The vThis return. movement takes place while the space interval 2 on thetransmitting ribbon is passing.

in so doing will have brought up against the 7 therefor and anelectro-magnetically con-., I

the motor, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

2. The combination of the reciprocatory carriage, the power drivenendless screw or worm, the vibratory clutch nut to engage said worm, theelectro-magnet for moving the nut, the contact strips 6, e, and theconducting rods ff','under the arrangement and for joint operationsubstantially as hereinbefore set forth.

3. The combination with a printing mechanism, of a reoiprocatory papercarriage, a motor for advancing the carriage, an electromagneticallycontrolled clutch for connecting the carriage to the motor, a paper rollmounted on the carriage and mechanism whereby the said roll isautomatically operated during the return movement of the carriage toeffeet the feed of the paper, substantially as and for the purposeshereinbefore set forth.

4. The combination of the reciprocatory paper carriage, a motortherefor, a clutch for connecting the carriage to the motor, anelectro-magnet for moving said clutch to engage the motor, a clutchcircuit including said magnet, a' polar relay controlling contactsthrough which said circuit is completed, and circuit connections wherebythe relay is operated to open and close said contacts at the time and inthe manner substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

5. The combination of electro-magnetic printing mechanism and theprinting circuit and connections therefor; the reciprocatory papercarriage; a motor therefor; a clutch for connecting the carriage to themotor; an electro-magnet for moving said clutch to engage the motor; aclutch circuit including said magnet; a polar relay controlling contactsthroughwhich said circuit is completed, having one of its windingsincluded in the printing circuit; and a return circuit ncluding theopposite winding of the said relay and completed through normally opencontacts, closed by the paper carriage at or near the completion of itsadvance movement-the combination being and acting as hereinbefore setforth.

6. In a system of telegraphic transmission, the combination with aprinting mechanism, a reciprocatory paper carriage, and operatingmechanism therefor substantially as de scribed at the receiving end, ofa transmitter electrically connected to the receiver, and a controllingtransmitting ribbon or fillet, having the character marks upon itdivided into groups each corresponding to one line of characters to bereproduced upon the paper at the receiving end, the one line group beingseparated from the other by an interval 2 sufficient to permit thereturn movement of the carriage after the completion of a line, to thestarting point for the next line, while the said portion ,2 of theribbon is passing through the transmitter, substantially as hereinbeforeset forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, before two subscribingwitnesses, this 12th day of December, 1893.

JAMES HARRIS ROGERS.

Witnesses:

EWELL A. DICK, G. M. COPENHAVER.

